1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates to a facsimile communication apparatus.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a structure of a typical conventional facsimile communication apparatus (hereinafter called facsimile apparatus) 1. Referring to FIG. 1, the facsimile apparatus 1 comprises a circuit control member 3 responsible for operation relating to the connection and disconnection of a circuit with a telephone circuit network 2, and a telephone set 4 connected to the circuit control member 3.
The circuit control member 3 is connected, through a changeover switch 5, to a modulation/demodulation circuit (hereinafter called modem) 6 for modulating and demodulating the image data, and a voice data processing circuit 7 for coding or decoding voice data, and the modem 6 is connected to a control circuit 8 for controlling the entire action of the facsimile apparatus 1. The voice data processing circuit 7 is connected to a voice memory 9 composed of random access memory (RAM) for storing the voice data and other data as described below.
The control circuit 8 changes over the changeover switch 5 to the modem 6 when the facsimile apparatus 1 is transmitting image data through the telephone circuit network 2, and sends or receives the image data. On the other hand, even though the facsimile apparatus 1 is connected with other facsimile apparatus through the telephone circuit, a predetermined voice output such as xe2x80x9cEnter code numberxe2x80x9d may be effected from the facsimile apparatus 1, or voice data may be received and stored. When carrying out a predetermined action in the facsimile apparatus 1 with respect to data from another facsimile apparatus, following to the establishment of a circuit connection with the so called side facsimile apparatus, the input of a predetermined code number is required or the function of the so-called answering service is known. The control circuit 8 of the facsimile apparatus 1 calls the predetermined voice output from the voice memory 9, when the present state of action requires the input of a code number or the storage of voice data at the moment of confirmation of the establishment of circuit connection with other facsimile apparatus by the circuit control member 3, and obtains the coded voice data from the voice data processing circuit 7, and sends it through the circuit control member 3. The received voice data is stored in the voice memory 9.
In such conventional facsimile apparatus 1, when storing the voice data as mentioned above, an exclusive voice memory 9 as shown in FIG. 1 is required, and the number of parts increases such as the analog/digital converter and digital/analog converter for voice data, and the overall system becomes larger in size. Further, the control by the control circuit 8 of the voice memory 9 is effected through the voice data processing circuit 7, and when plural types of voice data are stored in the voice memory 9 and the system attempts to reproduce them continuously in a predetermined combination, the control becomes much too complicated.
Further, the voice memory 9 is by far smaller in its memory capacity as compared with the image data memory installed in the modem 6, for example, and it cannot satisfy the need of storing a large quantity of acoustic data.
It is hence a primary object of the invention to solve the above technical problems, and present a facsimile communication apparatus simplified in construction, reduced in size, and enhanced in its use.
The invention presents a facsimile communication apparatus comprising:
modulation/demodulation means for sending and receiving image data by using a telephone circuit, such means being composed of
signal converting means for converting an analog signal from the telephone circuit into a digital signal and
signal controlling means for coding or decoding a digital signal entering or leaving of the signal converting means, and
memory means for storing the acoustic data together with the image data being sent and received, wherein the memory content in the memory means is modulated or demodulated by the modulation/demodulation means, and sent to the telephone circuit or received in the telephone circuit.
The invention also presents a facsimile communication apparatus comprising:
modulation/demodulation means for sending and receiving image data by using a telephone circuit,
memory means for storing the image data, being installed in the modulation/demodulation means, and
memory control means for varying the image data memory region and acoustic data memory region corresponding to the quantity of data being stored, when storing at least one of the corresponding image data and acoustic data by setting the image data memory region and acoustic data memory region in the memory means.
The invention further relates to a facsimile communication apparatus wherein a blank region is set in a range of memory means closer to the image data memory region of acoustic data memory region or image data memory region of acoustic data memory region.
The invention, moreover, presents a facsimile communication apparatus having modulation/demodulation means for sending and receiving image data by using a telephone circuit, and transmitting acoustic data by using the modulation/demodulation means, also comprising:
central control means, and
program memory means for storing the program for defining the control action of the central control means, wherein
an acoustic data memory region is set in the program memory means and acoustic data is stored, and
the central control means detects that the predetermined acoustic data generation condition is established, reads out the acoustic data from the program memory means, and transfers the acoustic data to the modulation/demodulation means for modulation and transmission.
In the facsimile communication apparatus according to the invention, the analog signal from the telephone circuit is converted into a digital signal by the signal converting means of the modulation/demodulation means whether image data or acoustic data, and is decoded by the signal control means and stored in the memory means. The image data and acoustic data stored in the memory means are, when being transmitted to the telephone circuit, coded by the signal control means of the modulation/demodulation means, and then converted into analog signals by the signal converting means to be sent out to the telephone circuit.
Thus, when sending or receiving acoustic data in the facsimile communication apparatus, digital/analog conversion or analog/digital conversion is effected by using the modulation/demodulation means for processing the acoustic data, and the acoustic data is coded or decoded by using the signal control means. As a result, memory means, coding/decoding means and signal converting means used exclusively for acoustic data are not necessary, and hence the structure may be reduced in size and simplified.
In the facsimile communication apparatus conforming to the invention, modulation/demodulation means for sending and receiving image data by using a telephone circuit is provided. This modulation/demodulation means is also equipped with memory means, and the image data memory region and acoustic data memory region are set by the memory control means, and the corresponding data are stored. At this time, the memory control means stores data by varying the image data memory region and acoustic data memory region depending on the quantity of each type of data.
Hence, when storing the acoustic data, the invention is effective in eliminating the necessity for installing a memory means for acoustic data which is separate from the memory means in which the image data is stored and which is disposed in the modulation/demodulation means, and therefore the structure may be means, and therefore the structure may be reduced in size and simplified. Meanwhile, the memory means of the invention is the means in which image data is stored, and such memory means is selected to have a far greater capacity than the memory means in which acoustic data is stored. By using such memory means, a huge quantity of acoustic data can be stored. Incidentally, in the memory means, the image data memory region and the acoustic data memory region can be dynamically assigned, and the memory processing depends on the state of use of the facsimile apparatus which can be realized.
In the facsimile communication apparatus according to the invention, the central control means detects that the predetermined acoustic data generation condition has been established. By this detection, the acoustic data is called out from the acoustic data memory region which is set in the program memory means, and is transferred to the modulation/demodulation means to be modulated and transmitted. Hence, an exclusive structure for storing the acoustic data is not needed, and the number of parts is reduced and the structure is downsized. The acoustic data is stored in the program memory means in which the program for defining the control action of the central control means is stored. Thus, control by the central control means in the acoustic data memory region is very easy, and complicated control, required for the such as continuous reproduction of. plural types of acoustic data may be done relatively easily.